As portable telephones become increasingly multifunctional, they come to contain more and more electronic components and control circuits.
Simultaneously, portable telephones are sought to be increasingly compact and lightweight. Accordingly, in portable telephones, the electronic components and control circuits contained therein are sought to be compact and lightweight. Among others, liquid crystal displays, at the same time that they are given larger and larger display areas and become fitted with a plurality of indicators, are sought to be thin. Accordingly, LED indicators used as backlights in liquid crystal displays are sought to be increasingly thin.
FIGS. 7(a) to 7(d) schematically show an example of such a conventional LED indicator (more specifically, a “side emission LED indicator; hereinafter referred to simply as an “LED indicator). FIG. 7(a) is a top view schematically showing the exterior appearance of the conventional LED indicator; FIG. 7(b) is a front view schematically showing the conventional LED indicator; FIG. 7(c) is a bottom view schematically showing the conventional LED indicator; and FIG. 7(d) is a side view schematically showing the conventional LED indicator.
FIG. 8(a) is a schematic cross-sectional view along line Z-Z shown in FIG. 7(d).
FIG. 8(b) is a perspective view of a lead terminal portion extracted from the conventional LED indicator.
The conventional LED indicator 101 has a casing 101a and lead terminals 111 and 112.
The casing 101a has a bottom face S101, a front face S102 having an aperture 102a formed therein to permit light emission, paired side faces S103 and S104 adjoining the front face S102, a rear face S105, and a top face S106.
The lead terminals 111 and 112 are partly buried in the casing 101a. 
As will be clear from FIGS. 7(c) and 8(b), in the conventional LED indicator 101, the lead terminals 111 and 112 are led out to the bottom face S101 of the casing 101a. 
In this LED indicator 101, of the lead terminals 111 and 112 led out to the bottom face S101 of the casing 101a, the portions located outside it are each bent, along the bottom face S101, toward the front face S102. These portions are called electrode portions 111A and 112A. The end portions of the lead terminals 111 and 112 thus have a shape bent upward, from the bottom face S101 toward the top face S106, along the side faces S103 and S104 respectively.
Moreover, the lead terminals 111 and 112 are partly exposed inside a recess 114 that forms the aperture 102a. 
To the portion of the lead terminal 111 exposed inside the recess 114, one end of a light-emitting element (LED) 121 is fixed and connected. The other end of the light-emitting element (LED) 121 is connected, via a lead wire 103, to the portion of the lead terminal 112 exposed inside the recess 114.
When this LED indicator 101 is connected to a circuit formed on a circuit board (unillustrated), the electrode portions 111A and 112A of the lead terminals 111 and 112 led out to the bottom face S101 are soldered to the circuit board (unillustrated).
The recess 114 is usually filled and sealed with transparent epoxy resin or transparent silicone 116, or with transparent epoxy resin or transparent silicone 116 mixed with a fluorescent material.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2003-168824
Patent Document 2: JP-A-2003-249689
Patent Document 3: Japanese Registered Design No. 175164
Patent Document 4: Japanese Registered Design No. 175166